


Stacks

by AngelOfDeath10



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 10:09:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelOfDeath10/pseuds/AngelOfDeath10
Summary: Relena is fixated on the handsome man she met in the library while studying for her midterms.  He seems like he might be trying to be nobody's type, but she resolutely decides he must be hers.





	Stacks

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Though GW did prove recently that 1xR is canon so at least I got my way!
> 
> Originally written in 2009 (?) for a yahoo group Church of Lemons, Blissful Ignorance forum spinoff. First time published not on yahoo, I think.

She wasn’t entirely sure he was real the first time she saw him. The school’s library was ancient, by college standards these days. The clean, dry air was only moved by an archaic ventilation system whose steady noise was more conductive to sleep than studying. Elitism practically peeled off the walls and sometimes she found her education staggeringly difficult to take in this environment. Students would filter in, looks of bemused desperation on their faces as they sought out research material. The fall midterms were coming up and traffic was high.

Relena hadn’t arrived early enough to get one of the special cloistered rooms that study groups and individuals frequently occupied. At first she had intended to study in her room. Her roommate was a law graduate student, just like Relena, only woefully behind in her work. When Relena brought out her flash cards with important points and vocabulary marked in her own neat calligraphy the poor girl had burst into tears. Relena cursed her soft heart quietly as she strode through the library to find the books she had taken notes from in the first place. The flash cards were in her ever suffering roommate’s nervous hands and she was on her own.

A quick check on the school website had proved that the books were not checked out. One of them was strictly reference so she knew it had to be in the library regardless. She swept her hand across her bangs with an exasperated sigh and stalked the shelves for her prey. The first book wasn’t difficult to find, and she passed by some students in chairs so she knew the definite location of a second, (she’d approach the individual in possession of it later if need be). The last one was proving elusive. 

Her hands brushed slowly over numbers and author’s names, feeling the plastic slip- covers and wishing midterms were over already. The stress was building, as her father had warned her it would. He had been there in that very library a generation ago, and Relena thought about how maybe he had even checked out the same books, albeit a different edition. Her father had been beyond proud when she had announced her intention to follow in his footsteps first as a lawyer and then as a Senator. There was no way her life could take any other course, so far as she was concerned. 

Breaking out of her reverie she chided herself for counting chickens and stood up from where she was kneeling on the floor. _Midterms first,_ she told herself. _You have to stay in the present and get things done one at a time._ And the first thing that needed to be done was find this missing book.

Several aisles down she saw a cart, and near that was a man shelving some books. It would be no trouble at all for him to check to see if someone had returned her lost book recently. Surely no one could have checked it out in the time it took her to cross campus from her dorm room.

“Excuse me,” Relena’s voice was a harsh whisper. The man didn’t even give her a glance. She tried again, this time with a more normal volume. “Excuse me, sir, but I need help locating a, um,”

It wasn’t the laser-like look of focus he gave her that had her breath catch just enough to cause her words to die, or even his obviously impatient body language. The man was beautiful. She wished she had another word for it, but there it was before her brain could un-think it. From his slightly disordered chocolate hair and piercing blue eyes to his lean body and long fingered hands, he was a fine example of academic manhood. The thick frames of his square black glasses only emphasized those extraordinary eyes, and she momentarily wished they really were a window into the soul so she could know what he was thinking. Her blush started at her neck and moved up slowly. She knew precisely what she was thinking and it wasn’t about books.

“Yes?” His voice was deeper than she had suspected.

Relena cleared her throat. If there was one thing she excelled at, it was poise in the face of the unknown. “I’m looking for a book. It said it wasn’t checked out a few minutes ago on the database, and I wanted to know if you could check to see if it hasn’t been shelved yet.”

The man’s gaze flickered as if he were considering something. He glanced down at the books in his hand and then up to her. The pause was considerable but Relena felt her patience was rewarded when he gave her a curt nod and shelved the books deftly.

“Wait here.” As he spoke, the corner of his mouth lifted in what she thought might be a smile. Their shoulders brushed in the narrow row as he passed her to check on her request, and even that slight contact forced her heart to pound in her ears. This was an alarming turn of events.

Attraction was not something Relena Darlian dealt with often. High school and undergrad had been a flurry of work, friends, and parties. There had been dates, but she hadn’t been in any serious relationships and nearly all of her previous relationships had been built on a foundation of mutual ideals and healthy respect. Her reaction to this complete stranger was primal, and troubling. Her scalp itched, and she suddenly felt far warmer than the temperate indoor climate control claimed she should feel. A vent above her head fired and she nearly jumped into the book cart in front of her.

She was considering running away and forgetting all about this encounter when the man returned. His movements had been so silent she really did jump into the book cart in surprise when his hand landed upon her shoulder to get her attention. Before she could topple over he grabbed her arm to steady her. Her pulled his hand away as soon as she was upright and thrust the book out in front of him like a shield.

“Here it is.” The book blocked his face from her view. Relena took it, but as their hands brushed they both let go and it dropped to the floor with a soft thud on the thin carpet. Quickly, the boy scooped it up again and Relena grabbed it by a free corner.

He was already beating a hasty retreat when Relena snapped out the question she was dying to ask. “What’s your name?”

At first she thought he’d continue on as if he hadn’t heard her, but to her delight he stopped and twisted his head to the side so she could get a profile of his face. He had strong features, and a stubborn set to his lips.

“Heero. Heero Yuy.”

It was even harder to concentrate on studying for midterms that day than she could have dreamed.

*

*

*

He seemed young. That led Relena to believe he was a student doing a work-study job for the school, though she thought he looked more like he was around her age than a Freshman or Sophomore. She had only just started here a few months ago so her social network was not as comprehensive as she would have liked, still she felt like someone should have heard that name before. Her inquiries all led to dead ends. 

Relena was not the sort of girl who could leave a loose end like this, but she was also afraid she was becoming a bit obsessive. It had been a couple of weeks since she had had her encounter with Heero Yuy in the library and she found herself stalking the library’s aisles far more than was necessary. _This is desperate,_ she would tell herself, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret looking for him now and then.

One of the upsides to her exploration of the library was in finding all the secret nooks and cubby holes that were scattered throughout the building. Something could look like a broom closet and really be full of old cassettes and VHS tapes. She found a reel to reel propping open a door in the basement. It didn’t take her long to feel like she knew the layout of this library as well as her own family home. Once she had seen a flyer for hide and seek in some of the other buildings on campus after hours, and she thought the library would be an excellent place to do that if it were allowed.

A week before Thanksgiving break, when she was beginning to think this Heero person was a figment of her imagination, she saw him again. He was in one of her favorite spots: a large chair in a corner that was partially obscured by a wall. Next to him was a stack of books and his feet were up on a half filled cart. A smile curled across her face. She never would have suspected he would be the sort to slack off from his work. It immediately made him seem more human and less terrifying to approach. Before she had formed any sort of plan, or even a proper opener to begin a conversation she found herself standing right in front of him. At first she wasn’t sure that he saw her, but those remarkably blue eyes of his darted up to meet hers and the book dropped to his lap.

“Do you remember me?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she wanted to take them back. Why would he remember her? What a silly thing to say. “You helped me find a book last month. I never got to say thank you. It was a huge help.”

Heero looked up at her, his level gaze nearly unblinking. Relena felt a shiver of nervousness run up her spine. Her reaction to him was so visceral.

“My pleasure.” Was all he said after the long pause.

“What are you reading?” She asked, unable to help herself. Letting the conversation die would be all too easy with the utter lack of help she was getting from this boy.

“Hn… whatever.” The look she gave him must have clearly conveyed her lack of approval for his conversational style because he dug deep into his repatoire and actually asked her a question. “Do you like to read?”

“About as much as the next person. I tend to read more news than fiction. You?”

“I read a lot of things.” Hero paused for a moment before adding, “I like to stay busy but there isn’t much to engage me here on campus.”

“Really? How can you say that when there are flyers all over campus for every sort of activity!” Relena didn’t have much time in her life for clubs but she did attempt to attend concerts and plays when she noticed they were close by. “Then again, you might have a lot of solitary hobbies. My brother is like that. He’d rather be working on his car than anything else in the world.”

“You have a brother?”

“Yes, an older brother.”

Relena felt like she was getting used to the intensity of his stare. Today his shirt was a faded blue that might have been vibrant once, but now had that used and comfortable look. When she lingered on details she felt the world normalize. The black glasses came off with a swipe of his hand, and Heero set them aside on top of the book. It was a sudden movement, but graceful and controlled. He didn’t seem to have any setting between off and high. That thought made her picture a blender for some reason.

“Are they just for reading?”

Heero nodded. “They’re new. I apparently strained my eyes recently. These are temporary.”

“They suit you.” 

Right there, Relena reached her limit for all this self-conscious behavior. The stress evaporated and she realized that no matter what, he was just a boy and dithering over talking to him was a waste of energy. 

“My name’s Relena. Sorry I didn’t mention it before.” The smile she gave was bright and effortless. “Would you like to come have a cup of coffee with me?”

Flickers of thought passed through his eyes, his expression remaining the same otherwise. Suddenly, he rose from his chair, his book dropping to the floor. Relena stepped back on one foot when she realized his proximity. Her chest was almost brushing his, and in the quiet of the library she could hear how Heero’s breathing was coming in slightly ragged. She wondered if it had been that way before and she had been too engrossed in her own reactions to notice.

His eyes scanned her face and dipped down to her lips before he seemed to collect his thoughts enough to speak. Relena wondered if he would kiss her, and if she would allow it. In someone else she might have been alarmed by such odd behavior, but the only vibe she got from Heero was that of a frightened gazelle.

“I need to go.” Heero made an about face and briskly retreated to the stairs. With a hand on her hip, she watched him go.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” Relena said wryly to herself as disappointment bloomed.

She would have let him.

“You forgot your glasses.” She added to no one before leaving the scene of her most recent embarrassment.

*  
*  
*

“He’s just an asshole.” Hilde rarely minced words, which is why Relena liked her immediately upon meeting her a few months ago. The small woman had more fight in her than most people would have suspected. “If Duo had brushed me off like that I would have gone home and made a voodoo doll of him.”

“Duo would never drop you cold.”

“He knows better!”

The girls laughed and sipped their beer. This had been Hilde’s idea, because Relena would never have gone to a random party and coffee had been a somewhat inappropriate choice in light of the situation. A few beers in the bar near campus seemed to be just what the doctor ordered, and Hilde would know being well on her way to that very title.

“Whatever, he’s just a boy. Apparently a really hot one, but I’m sure you have a whole line of boys waiting for you to condescend to talk to them. Don’t stress over the losers.”

“I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t seem to shake the feeling like I want to see him again. People are rarely reasonable about their feelings.” She heaved a sigh.

“If you’re talking like that then you need more booze! Drink up, girl.”

“Hey, it’s my job to corrupt our resident princess!” Duo walked up to them with that infectious grin on his face. “I don’t have long so you can just adore me a lot right now and get it over with.”

Hilde’s face twisted. “Ol’ Stoneface again?”

“I don’t know where this guy gets the energy! I mean, he was giving us devilishly hard problems sets before but now it’s like my life is being eaten. Yuy’s an engineering monster.”

Both girls froze, but Hilde was the first to react. “His name wouldn’t be _Heero_ Yuy would it?”

“Oh sure, didn’t I tell you?” Duo turned towards Relena to explain. He was always mindful of the people around him, plus he liked an excuse to talk more. “I’ve been calling this dude ‘Old Stoneface’ ever since he got here. He’s the visiting Professor this year. Probably one of the youngest in our field and some brain trust on loan from the government. I’m the only one who can keep up with him.” Duo took a moment to puff up and preen a bit, while Hilde patted his arm.

“A professor, eh?” Hilde began to laugh, slyly winking at Relena. Duo didn’t miss much, though, and jumped on this interplay.

“What’s up? Relena, you know this guy?”

Somehow it was a relief to know how he fit into the world outside of the library. Her encounters with him had been so isolated and surreal. “I met him once or twice. He isn’t much of a conversationalist.”

“You’re telling me!” Duo grabbed Hilde’s beer and took a long drink while she pinched him hard on the leg. “The first day he got there he definitely had the emotional range of a brick. People tried to get to know him but he wouldn’t discuss anything except engineering, and a little chemistry.

“He’s still pretty bad, but now he’s more angry. He broke a pen the other day, snapped it in two and got ink all over a schematic. Man just needs to get laid, but oh wait, that would mean interacting with another human being.” Duo’s voice was rising in volume as he neared the end of his tiny rant.

Hilde waggled her eyebrows. “I don’t know, I think that’s an excellent idea. Set him up with Relena. They could both use some loosening up.”

Duo laughed, his tension releasing easily, while Relena cried out in protest at her friend’s suggestion. “You’re disgusting!”

“It would be perfect!” Hilde continued, “Duo’s work would be less, you’d be happier, he’d be happier. Everyone wins! Clearly you must seek this man out and get crackin’.”

This was too much. “Ok, and how do you expect me to succeed in what is clearly a mission impossible?” Relena cocked an eyebrow over her beer.

Hilde and Duo exchanged a look. “I could just arrange a time to meet with him to discuss my progress,” Duo started.

“And then you show up instead dressed in nothing but a black trench and high heels!” Hilde finished.

“I would never cross campus like that.” Relena noted primly, fussing with her paper napkin.

There was a moment of deep thought before Duo tried again. “Then I’ll set up a lab time with him.”

“And then when he goes to the bathroom, you could pounce on him!” Hilde and Duo were made for one another, Relena thought: they were both insane.

“So you want me to hide in the men’s bathroom in the science wing for an undetermined length of time hoping he’ll take a break? At this rate I should just club him and drag him back to my cave by the hair.”

Her idiot friends seemed to seriously consider that as an option.

“I don’t know why I try to be reasonable with you people!” Relena tossed up her hands. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get us another round and you’re going to find any subject to discuss besides Heero Yuy!”

“Methinks she protests too much!” Duo called after her.

“What’s that? Next round is on you? How generous!” Relena answered.

*  
*  
*

“I’m insane and I’m talking to myself and I’m going to die of embarrassment _in this hallway_.” Relena made steady eye contact with the floor as she rushed through a building she had never thought she’d see as a law grad student.

Somehow Hilde had convinced her that she should take Duo a surprise snack, lovingly prepared by his girlfriend (a pack of twinkies and an energy drink). They all knew what the real idea of all this was, and Relena did her best to pretend like she was clueless in an effort to shore up her pride. She was not the kind of girl to chase after a boy. She was Relena Darlian for heaven’s sake! It wasn’t like she was lacking in any remarkable manner. With almost perceptible increments as she told herself these things, her back straightened and her eyes peeled away from the linoleum to meet the door to the lab room that she had been informed Duo was working in that night.

Come to think of it, no one had said Heero would even be working with him that evening. There were no guarantees that _Professor_ Yuy would be using his time on the Saturday night before finals week to help the students. A little voice in her head told her that no one sane would use their Saturday night to work on engineering period, particularly Duo. This was stinking of a setup, and she wondered why she had gone along with it even superficially.

Relena wished she had worked all this out before she had turned the doorknob to the lab.

“…and here comes the cavalry!” Duo said, waving a hand at her. Only a lamp and the artificial glow from the computers lit up the faces of Duo and Heero in the back corner. If Heero was surprised at her appearance he gave no sign. Duo looked positively jubilant though if it was from the culmination of his scheme to get her here with Yuy or of the possibility of a sugar and caffeine rush, Relena couldn’t determine.

“I’m just going to pop out and call Hilde. Make sure her study session is going well, thank her for the grub, and in general make sweet sweet love to her eardrums.” He motioned for Relena to sit down near them. “Stick around a little bit if you have time Relena, I bet Hilde will have something for me to pass on once we talk. You know how she is about the Christmas party…”

That last bit was true enough. Hilde’s year end parties were legendary, apparently, or they would be legendary if people could recall what they had done there afterwards. This year Hilde had somehow roped Relena into her inner circle of party planners, and already The Party had become more important than finals or making arrangements for going home over break.

Duo practically sprinted from the room, and soon only the hum of technology filled the silence between Relena and Heero.

“How are classes?” She thought that was benign enough.

“Fine.”

“Are your students doing well?” She had no idea how to talk to a professor, in a subject she knew nothing about, who was also a peer. 

“Some.”

This was feeling pointless and a little ill conceived. Besides, despite preparing herself mentally for the worst she still felt like she needed to peel off about 15 layers of clothing around this man, and she was only wearing 3.

“What are you working on?” She tried to sound upbeat.

He hadn’t moved from his seat at the computer so she came over to him and leaned over to see his screen. Relena’s hair slithered down her shoulders and in between them like a curtain.

Immediately, Heero minimized the window he had been looking at and became like a statue. Had he gone catatonic? After a long moment of indecision he stood up quickly, and stalked over to the window.

“So you study law?” His voice was rough, but at least he was talking to her. She took the seat he had vacated, and pushed at the mouse listlessly.

“Yes. I like it quite a bit. I like it when subjects have complexity, and you can’t get much more complex than where people meet rules. I find it fascinating.”

“People are incapable of following rules. They lack precision. It’s messy.” He said the last word with some emotion in his voice. He clearly didn’t like it when things were ‘messy.’

“The law is more about understanding human nature than it is about memorizing a few case files.” Relena said with gentleness in her voice. “And human nature is messy. I think that’s just something we should embrace rather than fight. I feel good knowing I can help people in the future work through problems.”

She hadn’t noticed at first how he had turned from the window to face her, but it was impossible to ignore now. Something in his manner had softened, his body rigid but his expression languid. Relena’s lips parted in a breathy sigh and Heero undid the top button of his dress shirt, possibly unconsciously. 

“Interesting.” Heero took a step towards her. “Relena, I…”

“You have to go see her NOW!” Duo burst in the door and for a brief moment Relena’s pacifist policies were thrown out the window as she fantasized about strangling him then and there. “Hilde says the DJ just called and he’s got to go home early so we need someone new and she needs you to troll parties tonight with her once she’s out of her study group. This is more than orange alert here people!”

If it had been wood and not plastic on the countertop there would be gouges where her nails were trying to curl into it. Worst. Timing. EVER.

“I guess I had better run. Catch you later Duo. Nice talking with you…” What did she call him? Professor Yuy? “Maybe we can continue our discussion some other time.”

A few days later, at the infamous party, Duo would comment about how he almost felt he needed to leave the room from the way Yuy stared at the door after she had left. People laughed at his anecdote, expecting the hyperbole, but the wry tone made Relena wonder.

*  
*  
*

It was hard to fall back into a strict routine after the long winter break had made her feel so insular and complacent. Holiday parties, shopping with friends, family moments, and all the good food involved in those events had taken their toll on her morale. It was time to get back to business, and Relena could usually shift gears with the best of them.

Winter was not her idea of a great season, but her roommate was from Florida and insisted on turning up their room temperature to near tropic levels. Rather than buying a fan, Relena figured she’d just start moving her study time to the small library rooms. It had become such a place of comfort to her already that it was second nature to seek it out.

She had a favorite room, one of the extra tiny private ones, which she signed up for in two-hour blocks every other day. It was on the third floor, constructed later than most of the rest because it had once been a staff bathroom (or so she conjectured) before renovations had swept through the buildings in the 80s and made it irrelevant. It was near all the foreign language books, where you rarely saw people.

That made the knock at her door almost shocking.

Relena peeled her eyes away from her book and set her pen down on the desk. “Am I over time?” she called to the closed door. Usually she was so conscientious that she almost couldn’t believe it.

With a flick she undid the lock and opened the door to find Heero.

“Hello.” He said simply. Relena merely nodded, caught entirely off guard. Possibly this was a dream, or someone had drugged her latte. 

“May I come in?” He seemed to be sure, but she noted where he was sweating under his arms through his dress shirt. 

“Of course.” She let him in as graciously as if she were hosting a dinner party in this tiny room, and as she closed the door she realized how he seemed to fill all the space she didn’t.

“I never set out to deceive you.” Something like anger laced his voice.

“I never said you did.”

“You assumed I was a student.”

“It was an easy mistake to make.”

“I don’t like being on morally dubious ground. You’re a student.”

“Not yours.”

All at once Relena felt like they had wandered into thought processes they had been sharing in tandem in their minds for some time. There was a pause and Relena was suddenly aware to how her senses had fired. The room was becoming stuffy and she twisted to reach over and open the window. It was above her head and standing on her toes she could only just grab the turning handle for the small opening. At once a hand covered hers, and she felt warmth all down her back as Heero took care of the task, never losing contact with her while he did.

The window now opened, Relena spun herself to face him. His fingertips were brushing the table on either side of her hips and she was trapped, deliciously so.

“I want that cup of coffee.” 

Relena swallowed, feeling how dry her throat had become. “That’s what you want?”

“No.” His voice was a growl as he pressed his lips to hers harshly. She felt the edge of the table push into her thighs as they clutched at one another. One or both of them was shaking, and there was a deep thrill in the pit of her stomach as she felt him respond to their kiss in a very palpable way.

She was almost grateful that it was him who groaned first, painfully, deep in his chest, as they pulled apart. That first kiss had been almost chaste in some respects, but the second wasn’t as their mouths opened and his tongue slipped over hers. His arms wound around her like steel bonds but slowly his muscles lost some tension and his hands began to wander over her body, slipping under her shirt to feel the skin of her back. Once the temperature normalized to her skin she could only feel the kneading pressure as she arched forward into his chest, and enjoyed the pure sensation of being touched.

Relena broke their kiss and let her lips wander down his cheek only to begin to place small biting kisses on the side of his neck.

“Why did you run?” She whispered into his ear, before moving back up to his mouth, which he was more than happy to engage her with.

“This,” he gasped inward as she purposefully and boldly rubbed against his hardness with a small sway of her hips “is messy.”

Aware of how cruel it was to extort answers from him while he was in this state, Relena allowed herself to get lost in the experience entirely. She pushed at his chest with her palm and after a second or two he seemed to realize and back away from her. It was the work of a moment to shove aside her books and notes and set herself where they had been.

Without waiting for her to get settled, Heero pushed her knees apart and placed himself in front of her, firmly pressing his erection against her center and recapturing her mouth with bruising force. Random thoughts flitted through her mind as she passed in and out of coherency: where an engineer got a body like his, what kind of underwear she had put on, what kind of underwear HE had put on, how she might not be able to study in this room any longer if they continued like this…

She gave a fluttering gasp as his hand found her breast while his mouth was assuring that she’d need to wear a turtleneck for at least a week after this encounter. Meanwhile, she worked his shirt from his pants with quick jerking motions until she could finally touch him as well. Relena could feel his muscles jump and tense as she kissed him in different ways. If experimenting in science class had been this fun she would never have gone into the humanities.

“Heero.”

“Hn,”

“_Heero._”

“Mm what?” Relena could see the runaway train in his expression. If he was going to break a personal rule then he was going to go for it whole hog.

For an instant Relena was transported to another time when she had done things with no consideration to good sense or personal safety. There was the time she had used the tire swing her cousins had built on a rickety tree half over a granite quarry. There was also the time that she had told off the school bully and he had nearly punched her before the playground’s monitor had spotted them and blown her whistle. The fear and exhileration of those moments was nothing compared to this. Still, she couldn’t be herself unless she said this:

“I only have this room for ten more minutes.” In the end base practicality slapped spontaneity in the face.

A feline smile spread over Heero’s face, but only for long enough for Relena to wonder if she had seen it at all. “That’s fine, I have it next.”

“Oh.”

“For two hours.” His hand stroked down her hair, rubbing the tips between his fingers before letting it slide away.

“Oh!” She brightened up, intimidated and aroused, but excited to see what the future held. Relena’s hands slid from his back to his waist, as she allowed her fingertips to skim the skin above his belt.

“Clearly,” He said, regarding her entirely without humor. “It won’t be enough time.”

It was going to be a memorable two hours.


End file.
